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In such a situation of things, I make onciation which your majesty comhat you may return to the governat of Spain, in the state in which you were on the 19th March, when your majesy mase the spontaneous abdication of your Crown in my favour -May God preserve the valuable life of your majesty many years! which is the prayer of your loving and dutitul son, prostrate at your royal feet.FERDINAND-Bayonne, 6th May, 1s03. N. XI. - Note of the French Minister for Foreign Ajais, M. de Champagny, in περία o one from D. Pedro Cevallos, in which it is contained, that a Cabinet Courier dispatched by Order of Ferdinand the Flith, with Documents for Azadrid. had beer de ained, and in which he applied for Passports for another.

The minister for foreign aflairs hus received the note which Signor de Cevallos did bin the honour to address to him, complaining of the oestruction of the courier of his excellency. This measure was ocegsioned by a notification, that his imperial majesty bad required, that no other king should be acknowledged than Charles the IV. From this results, as a necessary consequence, that the emperor canno` admit in his erritory any act in the nature of a passport given in the name of any other king, and for the same reason that the minister could noc countersign the now passport winch Sgar Cevallos hat sent him But he hastens to apprise you, that all the letters which the courier conveyed, and which have been detained, have been put into the hands of the Freach postarister, who will provide that they shall be sent to Bigos and Madrid with the greatest punctuality, and the same will be done as to all others, that the Spaniards, whether in France or Spain, choose to have conveyed, either by the ordinary post, or by a French courier. All will be tran ported to their respective dest-nations with the most scrupulous exde less, and the correspondence between the two s'ates, far from experiencing any terruption, will acquire new activity.-M. d Champigny, in sending this note to Signor de Cevalios, has the honour to assure him of his high consideration.*. Bayonne, April 29, 1808.

* While the emperor intreated the king to renounce the throue in his favour, no dificulty was made in countersi,ning the passports that I gave in his royal vue, but as soon as the French goverment saw its hopes disappointed, it refused passports to every dispatch.

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No. XII-Resignation by Signor Don Pedro Cevalios of his Office of Minister for Foreign Affairs, into the Hands of Jusent Napoleon, on the 25th of July.

Sir-At the time your majesty had the goodness to invite me to continue in the employment of minister for foreign affairs, I believed that I ought to submit to your notice some reflections, according to which your majesty could neither have the least confidence in me, or I the least security in your majesty's protection, since I found myself injured, and carefully watched by the emperor, your august brother, whose influence over your majesty's mind could be in no respect favourable to me. Your ma jesty persisted in your resolution, telling me that you were anxious to have near you persons possessing the esteem of the nation; but I having no other wish than to return to my native land, which had been deed to me after two months' application to his imperial and royal anjesty, it was necessary for me to accept the nomination of your | majesty, to put an end to the lamentable seputation from my family, and my fellow coan rymen, reserving always the right which no one can renounce, of adnering to the vote of the majority of the nation, in case it should not be disposed to acknowledge your majesty for their sovereign. To your majesty I have since shown, that Spain is almost unanimously opposed to recognize you as king; and if this clam be wanding to you, there is no other by which your majesty can continue sovereign of these kingdoms Thus circumstanced, I should be a traitor to my own principles, if I were to continue to exercise a ministerial capacity accepted ander such circumstances, and not from a desire to have any influence in the government of your majesty, which I renounce from this moment, to go into retirement, where I will consecrate to my unhappy country my wishes and tears for its calamities and distresses, which I should be glad to remove, for the happiness of a nation noble, generous, loyal, and brave. APPENDIX respecting the Manner in which the Grand Duke of B. g obtained by Surprise an Order from the Junta of Govern ment to deliver over to him the Person of the Prisoner, Don Manuel Goday.

Ever since the grand duke of Berg, lieuteaant-general of the armies of the emperor, set his foot on the territory of Spain, he endeavoured, by every possible artifice, to impress a general opinion, that he came for our happiness, and to effect certain useful reforms in our government; studiously giv ing out, that he would protect the cause

the prince of Asturias, and that he would pose the prince of Peace, who was the ject of universal hatred with the nation. Welther did he neglect to give forth some ats of the great influence of the queen in ublic affairs. It was very well known, at this only was necessary to captivate the fctions of the oppressed Spaniards; and uce his mission had for its object what we ave since seen, it must be acknowledged, at the calculations of the emperor of the ench, his master, were well grounded.-s, however, all things in this world are bject to change, the ever-memorable vements at Aranjuez occurred, and suberted all this plan. Scarcely had the grand ke of Berg become acq tainted with them, an he altered his scheme, and appeared to ake a great interest in the fate of don lanuel Godoy, with whom he had held orrespondence of the nearest intimacy, alnough he was not personally known to him. t was not concealed from his sagacity that he royal parents took great interest in the rotection of their favourite. Then it was at he began to take the most efficacious Pasures to liberate Godoy from pri on; it all this was ineffectual, as long as their dloved king, Ferdinand VII, remained at Aadrid. The grand duke of Berg was not ismayed by this circumstance; but scarcely d his majesty arrived at Burgos, when he enewed his application to obtain what he ong wished; threatening, in case a negative as given, that he would use the force at is disposal to effect his purpose. The inta, nevertheless, resisted his first applicaon, and consulted the king as to what they ught to do in such critical circumstances. Is majesty was pleased to acquaint them ith the answer he had given on the same abject to the emperor of the French, who ad himself solicited the release of the risoner; and which answer is as follows: - The grand duke of Berg and the amassador of your imperial and royal majesty ave, on different occasions, made verbal pplications that don Manuel Godoy, prisoner or a crime against the state in the royal lace at Villaviciosa, should be put at the isposal of your majesty.Nothing would e more agreeable personally to myself than o accede to your wishes, but the consepences would be so serious if I were to do 9, that I think it right to submit them to he prudent consideration of your majesty.Consistently with one of the duties of my ituation, which is to administer justice to ny people, I have ordered the most digniied of the tribunals of my kingdom to judge lon Manuel Godoy according to the laws.

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I have promised to my people that I would publish the result of a process on which depends the honour of a great number of my subjects, and the preservation of the rights of my crown. Throughout the whole extent of my dominions, there is not a single district, however small, which has not addressed complaints to the throne against that prisoner. All my subjects have signified their joy in a remarkable manner, from the moment that they were informed of the arrest of don Manuel Godoy, and all have their eyes fixed on the proceedings and decision of this cause.-Your m jesty, a wise legislator and a great warrior, can easily determine the weight of these considerations; but if your majesty feel yourself interested in the life of D. Manuel Godoy, I give you my royal word, that if, after a full examination of his case, he should be condemned to, death, I will remit that punishment, in consequence of the interposition of your imperial majesty. -May God preserve the life of your imperial majesty many years.-FERDINAND.' -Vittoria, April 18, 1803. -The royal order of the same date also apprised the junta, that if the grand duke of Berg renewe this applications in favour of Godoy, he should be answered, that this business was in treaty between the two sovereigns, and that the result depended exclusively on the decision of the king. His majesty hav ing been informed that his royal parents (ll informed, no doubt) had complained to the grand duke of the ill treatment of the prince of Peace in his prison, his majesty commanded me, notwithstanding his conviction of the delicate treatment observed by the Marquis of Castelar, that I should direct him, that the greatest care should be taken of the health of the prisoner, which I did under the same date.-Scarcely had the emperor received the letter of the king, when with his accustomed haughtiness he abused it, and wrote to the grand duke of Berg, telling him, that the prince of Asturias had put the prisoner, don Manuel Godoy, at his disposal, and commanding him vigorously to claim the surrender of his person. Nothing more was necessary for Murat, whose character is naturally daring and violent, and he sent the following note to the junta :- The emperor and king having informed his imperial and royal highness the graud duke of Berg, that his royal highness the prince of Asturias had just written to him, telling him that he referred the fate of the prince of Peace to his disposal; his highness in consequence directs me to inform the junta of the intentions of the emperor; on account of which I repeat the request for the delivery of

the person of the prince, that he may be sent into France.'-This determination of his royal highness the prince of Asturias, perhaps, has not yet reached the junta. In this case it appears that his royal highness must wait for the answer of his majesty the emperor; but the junta will see, that to answer the prince of Asturias will be to decide a different question, and it is known that his imperial majesty cannot recognise as king any other than Charles IV.-I beg the junta to take this note into their consideration, and to have the goodness to answer me on the subject, in order to give an explauation to his imperial highness the grand duke of their decision.-The government and the Spanish nation will see in this resolution of his imperial majesty, only a new proof of the interest he takes in Spain; because, in removing to a distance the prince of Peace, he wishes to deprive malevolence itself of the possible belief that king. Charles will restore to power and to confidence one whom he has resigned for ever; and further, the junta of government certainly will do justice to the exalted sentiments of his majesty the emperor, who would not abandon his faithful ally.-I have the honour to offer to the junta the assurance of my high copsideration. The general in chief of the etat major general,-AUGUSTO BELLIARD. Madrid, 20th April, 1808.'He added, verbally, to this note such atrocious and unheard-of threats, that the junta, no doubt fearful lest they should be realized, and that the tranquillity of Madrid would be shaken, had the weakness to accede to the proposition, and commanded the Marquis de Castelar, by order of the king, the same night, to deliver up the prisoner, which, in fact, was done with great repugnance on his part, and on the part of all the officers who had him in custody.-A proper regard to trath requires that it should be said, that don Francisco Gil, secretary of state and of marine affairs, and in consequence member of the junta of government, opposed the surrender of the prisoner, because it was not authorized by the king.-It is difficult to conceive how, after such direct acts as those that are stated, the junta of government should proceed to inform the council and the public, by the means of two extraordi nary gazeties, that the prince of Peace had been delivered up by order of the king. The same difficulty occurs, how this junta could endeavour to excuse its weakness, by distorting expressions of the official correspondence; as for example, a passage in the dispatch addressed to the council, which this tribunal, in its manifefon,

of the

quarto, cites in the following terms :- As to what respects the prisoner don Manuel Godoy, the king commands me to inform the junta, in order that they may make the proper use of this notice, that his majesty esteems too highly the wish expressed by the emperor of the French, not to gratify it, extending at the same time generosity in favour of a criminal who had offended the royal person.'-With little reflection, it ought to have occurred to them, that this supposed order was not intended to give li berty to the prisoner, but that the king was disposed to extend generosity towards him out of respect to the emperor. In order to know what species of generosity this was, it was only necessary to recur to the decree which his majesty addressed to the council, and which it has inserted, folio 15 of the same cdition. Under the same date of the 15th of April, a royal order was addressed to the Marquis de Castelar, notwithstanding his majesty's firm persuasion that his royal parents laboured under a mistake, directing that every care should be taken of the heal of the prisoner; and if at the same time th king had commanded that the junta of go.

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vernment should have set him at liberty, such a precaution with regard to his beats would have been idle and ridiculous. Be sides this, when the junta of government gave an account to the king of the conside rations and motives that they had for setting the prisoner at liberty, which are the same that have been stated, his majesty commanded me to reply in the following terms:The king is made acquainted with the mo tives the junta of government had for the de livery of the prisoner without his order.The two chief officers of the first secretary of state, and of the cabinet of his majesty, and his secretaries of decrees, don Eusebio de Bardaxi y Azara, and don Luis de Onis (through whose hands they were passed) cartify this statement of the junta, and of the reply of the king.I have considered it to be my duty to publish these transactions, that the whole nation may be informed of the circumstances which occasioned the surrender of don Michael Godoy, which is falsely attributed to his majesty, who never could think of abandoning the solemn promise be gave to his beloved people, to judge him according to the laws, and that we should on this account be more strongly confirmed in the ardent affection we cherish for our beloved king Ferdinand VII. whom God restore, as soon as possible, for the completion our happiness-We, don Eusebio Bardası Azara, and don Luis de Onis, secretaries y decrees to our lord the king, and principal Jof

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officers of the first secretary of state, and ot the cabinet, certify the fact of the representation of the junta of government, and the answer returned to it by the king; and that they were conceived in the terms stated by the most excellent signor don Pedro Cevallos, in his Expositions; the documents having passed through our hands, and which we authenticate by our signatures.- EUSEBIO DE BARDAXI YAZARA.-LUIS DE ONIS.Madrid, Sept. 3, 1808.

OFFICIAL PAPERS.

SPANISH REVOLUTION.-Manifesto of the Junta of Seville, Aug. 3. 10S. (Continued from p. 570).

py issue hitherto of their civil administration, and the military enterprises which they have directed, have placed in the most conspicuous light, and established beyond all doubt, this fundamental truth, and most essential political principle.-But who is to create this supreme civil goverment ? Who are to compose it? Where shall be its place of residence? What the extent of its authority? How shall it be established without interrupting the public tranquillity, and producing disunion among the different provinces? How is the public opinion to be so regulated as that, without opposing it, this tranquillity shall be attained, and all risk of disturbance obviated? These are the imVarious supreme juntas and military chiefs portant and serious questions which we shall have expressed their conviction of this truth. now proceed to examine; and upon which, -A conviction of the same springs from influenced solely by the love of our country, the indispensable necessity of a civil govern- and our anxiety to promote its welfare, we ment in every nation whose duty is to at- will enter into a frank explanation of our tend to the happiness of the kingdom, and sentiments. In the various papers that have. to which the military may be subordinate. been published upon this subject, we are The confidence of the nation, and, couse- told that the cortes should assemble; that quently, the public funds and the capitals of they should elect representatives; and farindividuals, must, necessarily, have a "civil ther, that the old council of Castile should government for their support. Without it, convoke them, and the whole of the prothe military power would, indispensably, ceeding should be executed under its authobe under the necessity of employing vio- rity. Most assuredly we do not understand lence, with the view of acquiring that confi- the grounds upon which this decision rests. dence which it never could attain, and get- The council of Castile, though a lawful as ting a command of those capitals, which sembly, never convoked the cortes. Why, it would be equally impossible for it to bring then, should we give it an authority which within its grasp; and thus it would ultimate- it does not possess? Is it because it lent the ly destroy the public prosperity and happiness, whole weight of its influence to such imporwhich ought to be the sole object of every tant changes, with regard to which it had government. Let us not vainly flatter ourno powers, nor any authority whatsover? selves with notions of Roman dictators, and Is it because it has acted in opposition to the other military chiefs of the ancient re- those fundamental laws, which it was estabpublics: they were placed under very prn- lished to preserve and defend? Is it because dent restraints, and the duration of their it afforded every facility to the enemy to authority was limited to a very short period. usurp the sovereignty of Spain, to destroy The dangers of complete despotista and the hereditary succession of the crown and usurpation kept them in continual alarm, and the dynasty legally in possession, and recogcompelled them to take very rigorous pre-, nized and seated on the throne a foreigner, cautions, which are very incompatible with destitute even of a shadow of a title to its the habits of modern times. Spain has de. for it is incontrovertibly manifest, that the riveda lesson of wisdom from the history of renunciation of Charles IV. in his favour gave past ages: she has never thought of appoint- him no such claim? What confidence could ing a military dictator. Her military chiefs the Spanish nation place in a government (and it is a fact most honourable to the Spa- created by an authority invalid and illegal, nish name) have been the first to embrace, and which had also rendered itself suspected, with the utmost cordiality, a system of by the previous commission of acts of so things as ancient in Spain as the monarchy horrible a description, that they may be itself. The experience of our times the justly ranked with the most atrocious crimes confidence of the people in the supreme jun- against the country?—The council of Castas - the facility and abundance with which tile being thus excluded from all considerapecuniary resource have been placed at their tion-who should convoke the cortes? The disposal the heroic loyalty with which authority to convoke them is a part of the the military chiefs and the army have ac- peculiar and exclusive prerogative of the knowledged and obeyed them, and the hap-king. The provinces would not submit to

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POLITICAL REGISTER.-Official Papers.

any other authority; they would not unite;
there would be no cortes; and should a few
delegates assemble, that very circumstance
would expose the kingdom to division-the
evil which all wish to avoid-Besides, the
cities who have votes in the cortes have not
undertaken the defence of the kingdom, nor
of themselves, ixor in their corporate capa-
city have they made any effort to defend it.
'We entertain the most profound respect both
for them and their rights; but truth com-
pels us to speak out.--Most undoubtedly,
however, the cues who have votes in the
cortes, in thus con lucting themselves, acted
with consummate prudence, and with a due
observance of law. The kingdom found itself
and without a govern-
suddenly without a kinga
ment--a situation indeed unknown in our his-
tory andto our laws. The people legally resum-
ed the power of appointing a government; and
this truth has been openly avowed by various
supreme juntas. The people created these
juntas without paying any regard to the ci-
The
ties who have votes in the cortes.
legitimate power is therefore deposited with
the supreme juntas, and, in virtue of that
power, they have governed and do govern
with real authority, and have been and still
are acknowledged and obeyed by all ranks of
subjects, and by all cities in their respective
districts, having votes in the cortes. Their
situation has not changed; the danger still
exists; no new authority has surpervened;
the lawful authority therefore resides entire
in the juntas which the people created, and
to which they contided it.--It is, therefore,
incontestible that the supreme juntas have
the sole and exclusive right of electing those
who are to compose the supreme govern-
ment, as the only means of protecting and
preserving the kingdom, whose defence the
people have entrusted to them, and which
cannot be accomplished but by the establish-
ment of a supreme government. Nothing
is more evident than this truth. And whom
shall the supreme junta elect? Most cer-
tainly individuals of their own body; for
they alone derive their power from the peo-
ple, and it is in their constituent members
that the people have reposed their entire
confidence. Should any other persons be
chosen, they would possess neither the con-
fidence nor the consent of the people, and
all their acts would be null and void; and
from this want of confidence, the nation
would be exposed to intestine divisions, the
last and greatest of all our calamities. -
Hence, if there be any province in which
the military power has alone been retained,
results the absolute necessity of constituting
supreme juntas in which the power of the

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electe

people shall reside, and by which they may
act. Whether they shall be constituted by
the petty cortes or any other bodies, their
appointment in some form or other is indis-
pensable, in order to the concentration of
the legitimate power of the people, and the
establishment of a civil government, which
shall inspire confidence into the people, and
proceed to the choice of persons who shall
compose the supreme government, whick,
under the present circumstances, cannot b
legitimate, unless it has its origin in the
free consent of the people.-It seems then
to be indispensably necessary, that all the
supreme juntas, meeting on the same day.
should each elect from among their own
members two deputies to form the suprem
government, and the persons so
should, from that moment, be repated, and
of the
actually be the governors-general
kingdom; and that as such they should Le
universally acknowledged and obeyed-
Their authority is well known, and cannot
be subject to any doubt. The supreme
junta of Valencia has most judiciously
marked its extent and limits, in the paper
which they published on this question, on
the 10th of July. We shall, therefore, be
excused from going more at large into the
consideration of it-We will only add, that
the supreme juntas ought to be continued
with alt their appointments and insignia,
and be invested with the internal govern-
ments of their respective provinces, until
the conclusion of the present state of things,
but at the same time under due subordination
to the supreme government. In those su-
preme juntas resides the legitimate power of
those portions of the people who have re-
spectively created them. It is their duty to
take measures for insuring the happiness of
their constituents, through the medium of a
just government, and vigilantly to protect
and defend the rights of every individual
among them. For this purpose they ought
to give their instructions to their respective
deputies, constituting the supreme govern
ment; and it will be the duty of the latter
to observe them, and to represent and sup-
port the claims of their provinces, as far as
may be consistent with the general prospe
rity. If there existed among us a royal
personage, capable of presiding in this sa-
preme government, reason and justice pre-
scribe that he, and no other, should be ap-
pointed to that office. But if there be no
such royal personage, the supreme govern
ment must elect a president from its own
body. To obviate every danger, however,
the presidency should be temporary, and
continue only for a fortnight, a month, or

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